Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, which opened about four months ago, and Bartender Patrick O'Neill said a song inspired his addition to the Midtown Cocktail Week offerings with a drink he calls the William Tell. “I was taking light rail to work on a Monday – we are closed on Mondays so I like to come in and workshop some drinks and see what happens – but I was listening to the Brand New song 'You Won't Know,' and there are some references to William Tell in that song,” O’Neill said. “(I) got to work and started playing around, and all (of a) sudden I had this cocktail. I was happy with everything in it. Then I threw a slice of green apple over a rock cube and threw a cherry on top of it, and ther

Two historical downtown buildings are being refurbished, and they will soon house Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, a seafood restaurant that owner Carina Lampkin said will serve “gourmet food at hipster prices” and is expected to open in December. The approximately 3,500-square-foot building was formerly two separate buildings, 1013 and 1015 Ninth St., and both date back to the 1930s. “Blackbird is a compilation of all of my experience so far,” said the 30-year-old Lampkin. “I grew up on the East Coast and spent every summer in Maine. In 2003, I moved to San Francisco and went to culinary school.” After spending almost a decade cooking at restaurants in San Francisco, Lampkin made the move to S